Can Glover Teixeira Capture UFC Gold?

41-year-old Glover Teixeira defeated the returning Thiago Santos in a bout with incredibly high stakes.

Though the UFC had never officially dubbed this a true number one contender’s bout, the MMA community certainly saw it that way. Whether or not the UFC decides to run with the Israel Adesanya-Jan Blachowicz bout is still to be determined.

Regardless, Glover Teixeira will be the next man up before or after Adesanya.

With that being said, can the aging veteran actually capture UFC gold that has alluded him thus far?

As previously stated, Glover Teixeira is now 41 years old in a young man’s game. When it comes to the larger weight classes, older fighters do tend to have the ability to hang on a bit longer than the lighter weight classes which does bode well for Teixeira. To add on top of that, Teixeira has looked absolutely dominant in his last two outings where he got the best of Anthony Smith and the previously mentioned Thiago Santos, both by way of stoppage. Teixeira may be looking as good as he has ever looked, but how does he match up with the current champion?

Current Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz has put on a clinic as of late and truly displayed his toughness earning a shot at UFC gold and then winning it through the use of his trademark Polish power. Jan has displayed this power earning vicious knockouts against Corey Anderson and Dominick Reyes in his last two fights. Despite being 37 himself, Jan also looks to be at the top of his game and posses real problems for everyone at the top of the Light Heavyweight division. A fight between these two top contenders would be absolute fireworks.

So, who wins?

Another incredibly early prediction, but the pick has to be Jan to retain. All due respect to Glover as he has put on back-to-back clinics on how to defeat your opponent. And it is entirely possible he could formulate a plan on how to avoid the power of Jan and break him down as well. But Jan’s power is other-worldly and it would be asking a lot of an aging veteran to walk through Jan’s most powerful shots, take him down, and beat him down.

Obviously, Israel Adesanya throws a tremendous wrench into these plans for Glover, but should this bout actually happen, it would be entertaining.